Before They Even Knew it
by AverageApplePie
Summary: It was so painfully obvious that Sydney and James were in love...Chapter 3: Memories of a war we both lost. Civil War AU.
1. Chapter 1: Before they even knew it

**Title:**** Before They Even Knew it**

**Rating:**** K+**

**Characters:**** Sydney 'Iron Maiden' Stark, James 'Captain America' Rogers, Francis 'Hawkeye' Barton, Torunn, Azari 'Black Storm', Henry 'Hornet' Pym Jr., and Keisha 'Silverstar' Rhodes.**

**Pairings:**** Sydney X James**

**Warnings:**** none**

**Summary:**_**It was so painfully obvious to everyone that Sydney and James were in love… Well, everyone **_**except**_** Sydney and James.**_

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Marvel or any of its characters, but I do own Sydney 'Iron Maiden' Stark and Keisha 'Silverstar' Rhodes.**

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

It was so very obvious they were attracted to one another.

Anyone could see it in the way they smiled at each other, the way they talked to each other, and even the way they fought together. Their chemistry together was undeniable; they completed each other in ways no one else ever could.

Sydney was the calm in James' storm; the only one that could diffuse the bomb he became at times. James was the one constant in Sydney's world of variables; the one who kept her sane when her life got too hectic or bizarre. They were each other's sanctuary and reality check.

Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for the day the two of them came to their senses became an official couple; after all, it was_ painfully_ obvious to everyone that Sydney and James were in love.

Everyone _except _Sydney and James.


	2. Chapter 2: Because I know you

**Title:**

**Rating:**** K+/T**

**Characters:**** Sydney 'Iron Maiden' Stark and James 'Captain America' Rogers**

**Pairings:**** mild Sydney/James**

**Warnings:**** none**

**Summary:**

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Marvel or any of its characters, but I do own Sydney 'Iron Maiden' Stark and Keisha 'Silverstar' Rhodes.**

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Thought I'd find you here."

Sydney's voice, modulated by her helmet, and the soft clinking of her armored feet on the roof alerted James to her presence. He didn't bother to turn and look at his best friend as she sat down beside him. She took her helmet off and set it down.

"What do you want Stark?" He grumbled darkly.

Sydney raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at him; not intimidated in the least by his dangerous tone. She'd known him far too long to be intimidated by anything about him.

"Wow, you must _really_ be pissed if you're using my last name." She mused.

He shot her a look, "Sydney, I really don't want to talk about it."

Sydney smiled, gazing out over the city, "I know."

"Then why'd you come out here?"

He felt her armor encased hand on his shoulder and raised his head to meet her eyes. She was looking at him with those pale blue eyes; those eyes that always saw straight through him. It was because of those _eyes_ that he'd never been able to truly lie to her.

"Because I also know you hate to be alone, even when you're mad." She responded softly.

James' eyes softened and he shook his head, "Sometimes I really hate how well you know me."

"And the rest of the time?" She prompted with a shit-eating grin.

"I'm really, really, _really_ glad you do." He chuckled.

They both laughed for a while, each enjoying the company of another who understood them completely. They fell into companionable silence and James took the armored hand off his shoulder and held it in his own hands, mapping out and memorizing ever dip and contour in the gauntlet he held captive. He flexed her fingers, studying the way the plates slid and contorted to allow the movement. He then stroked his fingers over her knuckles, identifying small imperfections and battle damage that the gauntlets had accumulated over the past years. Scratches and dents she'd earned fighting for her life… Fighting for his and the others' lives as well.

He stroked a thumb over a deep scratch; sometimes it was easy to forget that Sydney wasn't the super soldier. Take away the metal suit and she was only human, a very breakable, fragile human. Granted, an incredibly smart and resourceful human, but still not as invincible as she pretended to be.

He squeezed her hand tightly and raised his eyes to meet her gaze. Intense blue eyes stared back at him and he reached out slowly, cupping her cheek tenderly. The gauntlet he wasn't holding came up to cover his hand without breaking eye contact.

"Sometimes I don't know how I'd survive without you." The words slipped past his lips without a thought to them and the honesty in that statement surprised even him.

Sydney's eyes widened for a split second before she smiled; a true smile devoid of any sarcasm or cynicism, a beautiful kind of smile he hadn't seen for _years_ on her face. The kind that hadn't lived nineteen years in a world that believed it was every man for himself. The kind that didn't spend every day pulling together the tattered remains of society, trying to rebuild what had taken many generations to create, but only one to destroy. The kind that didn't carry the world on her shoulders and still manage to stand taller than he could ever hope to.

"You give me too much credit," She ducked her head slightly, "You would do just fine without me; you_ all_ would."

"No, we never give you enough credit, honestly," He caressed her cheek and pressed a kiss to the knuckles of her gauntlet.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

**I've decided to make this story a series of one-shots exploring the relationship between Sydney and James.**

**Please review and tell me what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3:Memories of a War we Both Lost

Memories of a War we Both Lost

"_What have we done?"_

James remembers how anxious he'd felt when Sydney had agreed to meet him at the Avengers Memorial to try to figure out a compromise to the Civil War.

What he doesn't remember was how they'd ended up in an abandoned warehouse all over each other, making love that was truly more hate and anger than love.

xXx

"_It's because of _you _that our whole family is either in jail or dead!"_

Of all the hurtful words Sydney had hurled at him during the Civil War, those had cut the deepest. He remembers with painful clarity the burning rage he'd seen in her eyes as she'd shoved him against the wall with her Extremis-enhanced strength.

In that moment, he'd known he'd gone too far with this Registration Act because in that moment, he'd truly believed Sydney hated him.

xXx

"_What have we done?"_

When Sydney had to stop seven times on her way to the Secret Avengers hideout, she knew something was wrong.

She didn't expect to be pregnant. She cried herself to sleep that night.

xXx

"_Tell me what I can do to fix this!" _James had pleaded with her.

"_You can't fix this James, you've destroyed our family, our relationship, and you'll live with that."_

She could never hate James, no matter what he did, but as she'd sat in that jail cell on the helicarrier, stripped to her underwear, screaming through the bars at the man she'd thought she'd spend the rest of her life with, she truly didn't like him.

xXx

_"How can you support something that violates people's basic rights?"_

_ "Because we have to be held responsible for our actions, Sydney, too many people think they can get away with breaking the law because they have superpowers."_

_ "I _know _that, but this isn't the way to do it!"_

_ "No, it's the _only _way to do it."_

xXx

_"You know she'll receive the death sentence if she's tried, right?"_

_ "I know Val."_

Sydney would have pleaded guilty; she was stubborn in her beliefs. She would have never registered, not even to save her own life, so James did the only thing he could to save her.

xXx

He'd thought Sydney was really going to kill him as she stood over him. She looked wild; her helmet had been lost a long time ago and her hair was singed and falling over her face in messy clumps matted with sweat and blood, her face was dirty and bruised, and her eyes blazed in anger, and a little bit of hate, as powered up her palm repulsor.

Then, there had been a subtle shift in her expression and she powered down her repulsor, turned away and harshly laughed.

_"Even now, when you've taken everything from me, I still can't kill you."_

She'd dropped her armor, and sent it away using the Extremis and walked over to the police in her black under sheath, and held out her wrists with a bitter, defeated expression on her face.

xXx

"_You might be Captain America, James, but that doesn't mean you're always right."_

He remembers the last words she said to him in a civil conversation and he remembers he should have listened better, they both should have.

xXx

_"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"_

_ "I'm trying to save your damn life!"_

_ "I never asked you to do anything for me!"_

_ "This isn't just about _you _anymore; it's about our unborn children too!"_

He'd been trying to save her and their children's lives when transported the two of them from the helicarrier to the alternate universe where Ultron hadn't killed their parents, they'd never been born, and the Civil War had already been fought.

She punched him across the jaw and had to be restrained by the alternate world's Avengers.

xXx

"_How did we let this go so far?"_

"_What have we done?"_

"_I never wanted to hurt you."_

"_I'm sorry..."_

All too little, too late.

xXx

** These aren't in chronological order.**

**I imagine that they will go through the Civil War in this universe, but it'll be a bit different. Here are a few of the heroes on each side, there would be others, but these are all I can currently think of.**

**Pro-Reg.**

**James Rogers/Capt. America**

**Henry Pym Jr./Wasp (at first, later switches to Anti)**

**Valeria Richards**

**Rachel Summers/Marvel Girl**

**Anti-Reg.**

**Sydney Stark/Iron Maiden**

**Francis Barton/Hawkeye**

**Franklin Richards **

**Danielle Cage/Power Girl (made the alias up)**

**Neutral/Otherwise uninvolved**

**Torunn (Left for Asgard after becoming pregnant with Francis's child)**

**Azari (Left to rebuild Wakanda and claim the throne)**

**Kimberly Rhodes/Starburst (Forced to leave the United States and stay in Wakanda by Sydney when SHRA was passed, later married Azari and stayed in Wakanda)**

**Peter Parker/Spider-man (neutral, but favors Anti-Reg.)**


End file.
